Raiders give seniors night to remember with win

BAXTER — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s volleyball team has been on a roll recently, and on Senior Night in Baxter, the team gave its veterans a night they can remember fondly. The Raiders made quick work of the visiting Saydel Eagles in three sets (25-9, 25-12, 25-8).

The seniors in uniform on Tuesday were Abbie Haupert, Hannah McWhirter, Marissa Schafer and Katie Ziesman.

“The girls played very well tonight,” CMB coach Scott Ranck said. “We had a really nice and enthusiastic crowd. The team really wanted to send our eight seniors out with a bang, and they drew a lot of energy from our crowd for the the match. We passed well, moved well, served well, hit the ball well, and was pretty much in control the entire game. After some close games, it is nice to have a game like this. We are going to enjoy this and get back at it, build off of this win and the momentum we have been gaining, and keep working on getting better by tournament time.”

Leading the charge in kills was Haupert with 12. Payge Jurgens had eight kills, followed by Ziesman with two and Abbey Applegate with one. Mackenzie Schmitz’s 17 assists were tops for the Raiders. Toni Spencer, McWhirter and Alex Hiavacek each had one.

Applegate led the team with nine digs, but there were plenty to go around. Spencer had six; Bekah Pearson and Schmitz had five; Ziesman, Haupert and Jurgens each dug out four balls, and Schafer and Hivacek each had two digs. Haupert had two solo blocks. Jurgens blocked two as well, one solo. Hiavacek assisted Jurgens on a block. Jurgens had five aces on a perfect 19-for-19 searching. McWhirter and Haupert each had two aces, and both landed 11 serves. Applegate had an ace on 10-for-10 serving. Schafer hit an ace on just two serve attempts, and Ziesman was 3-for-3 with an ace.

CMB heads to Madrid on Saturday for a tournament, at which they will play Colfax-Mingo, Colo-Nesco and West Marshall.